Swedish carom billiards star Torbjörn Blomdahl ended 2001 with his ninth Billiards Worldcup Association title, scoring 325 points and winning four of seven tournaments during the year. He was trailed by Semih Sayginer of Turkey, with 277 points and two tournament titles, and Dick Jaspers of The Netherlands, with 240 points and one title. Blomdahl racked up points by capturing the Oosterhout, Neth., and Lugo, Spain, tournaments in late 2001. He also led the world rankings (calculated separately on a 12-month basis) going into 2002. In February Blomdahl defeated Belgian legend Raymond Ceulemans, the 2001 Union Mondiale de Billard (UMB) champion, for the world three-cushion Supercup. In the summer it was announced that Ceulemans was to be knighted by King Albert II of Belgium for his contributions to the international sports scene.

Frédéric Caudron of Belgium began 2002 with a strong challenge, taking the Dutch Open Grand Prix in January with an impressive 1.721 average and then following with a win and a 1.670 average in Oporto, Port., in March. Blomdahl managed only an unfamiliar third place in Portugal despite having a 1.909 average. In June Jaspers won his fourth Crystal Kelly tournament with a record-setting grand average of 2.536. The ninth edition of this lavish invitational event brought eight of the top three-cushion specialists together for 50-point round-robin competition. Sayginer and Caudron tied for second place.

Sang Chun Lee’s 12-year reign as U.S. national champion came to an end in February as his fellow American Pedro Piedrabuena was named 2002 champion. Piedrabuena averaged 2.083 in the title match with Lee, toppling the former champion 50–25 with a high run of 12.

In October Italy’s Marco Zanetti won his first UMB world championship, besting Dion Nelin of Denmark in the final with an average of 2.360. Zanetti had defeated Jaspers in the semifinal, while Blomdahl, Sayginer, and Caudron all fell in the quarterfinals.

Pocket Billiards.

Organizations rather than competition made the biggest news in the pocket billiards world in 2002. A new professional men’s organization continued to develop in the U.S., and a new international tour organization took shape in Japan. The Billiard Congress of America (BCA) took steps toward becoming an Olympic governing body. The manufacturer-dominated BCA approved a bylaw change that added significant player representation to its board of directors and brought its structure into line with U.S. Olympic Committee requirements.

The United Poolplayers Association (UPA) became a legal entity composed of most of the top male players. The UPA was launched by American player Charlie Williams and a handful of supporters in an attempt to fill the gap left when the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. discontinued its Camel Pro Billiards Series after the 1999 season. By mid-2002 the UPA had established standards and scheduled its first three self-promoted tournaments.

The International Billiard Council (IBC) made big news in late 2001 with its ¥100,000,000 (about $800,000) tournament in Tokyo, won by Efren Reyes of the Philippines. The 2002 IBC Tour got under way in May at the Nanki Classic in Shirahama, Japan. American Cory Deuel won $14,000 for first place, in contrast to Reyes’s $163,000 for first place in the 2001 kick-off event in Tokyo. As the season proceeded, the top prize settled at around $7,000. In Munich, Ger., in early June, Filipino Francisco Bustamante pocketed $6,000 for first place. At the Holland Open in July, Ralf Souquet of Germany defeated 2001 world champion Mika Immonen of Finland to take the $7,000 prize; then in September he took home another $7,000 for beating American Johnny Archer at the U.S. championship in Nashville, Tenn. In November Souquet lost the season-ending Tokyo 9-Ball International (and the $10,000 top prize) to Bustamante, but the German earned enough points to be named the overall IBC Tour champion.

The Women’s Professional Billiard Association (WPBA) marked its 25th year by expanding the field of its Classic Tour events from 48 to 64. The WPBA tour continued to be dominated by two former snooker players, England’s Allison Fisher and Northern Ireland’s Karen Corr. Corr had swept the entire 2001 season, but Fisher battled back and took the 2002 season’s first title in March at Valley Forge, Pa., and the Amway Cup in Taiwan in April. Corr came back to win the Spring Classic in Viejas, Calif., and the BCA Open in Las Vegas, Nev., in May, but she lost to Fisher at the Fall Classic in New York City in October. Sweden’s Helena Thornfeldt, who resided in the U.S., upset the status quo with a win in September at the U.S. Open in Albuquerque, N.M. It was her first WPBA title since 1997.

Perhaps pocket billiards’ most-watched event, the World Pool–Billiard Association (WPA) men’s world pool championship, held in Cardiff, Wales, in July, was televised in over 70 countries. In the U.K., viewers were treated to more than 60 hours of live coverage, including American Earl Strickland’s nail-biting 17–15 victory over Bustamante for the $65,000 top prize. Earlier in the month, Liu Shin-mei of Taiwan bested Corr for the women’s WPA title, worth $12,000.

In September live televised pool coverage returned in the U.S. after a decade-long hiatus with Billiard Club TV’s presentation of the finals of the U.S. Open 9-Ball Championship live on pay-per-view satellite television. Souquet defeated Filipino-born Canadian Alex Pagulayan 13–11 in the exciting final just three minutes before the broadcast was scheduled to end.

Snooker.

The 2002 men’s professional snooker season ended with a thrilling world championship title in May at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, Eng. The tournament produced a new champion, a new rankings leader, and remarkable television ratings. In a 35th-frame victory, England’s Peter Ebdon defeated Stephen Hendry 18–17 to deny the Scotsman his eighth world championship title. The suspenseful final drew 7.5 million viewers for a 60% share of the TV audience. Ebdon entered the season finale ranked number seven in the world and moved up to number three, while 2001 champ Ronnie O’Sullivan of England consoled himself over the loss of his title with the number one ranking.

Despite hours of TV coverage and loyal audiences, the loss of tobacco-company sponsors loomed large. Tobacco sponsorship was due to begin phasing out in Europe in 2003, much as it had in the U.S. in the late 1990s. In July the players, who controlled the game through the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), held a vote to choose from the companies proposing to take over management of the professional tour. None of the three companies received a majority of the vote, however, and after one of the companies withdrew its proposal, the WPBSA decided to appoint World Snooker Enterprises as its new commercial management team.